Protest: Address issues with sincerity, Gbenga Hashim tells Tinubu

Gbenga Hashim, a former presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has called on President Bola Tinubu to genuinely address the critical concerns raised by the organizers of the planned August 1 protest.

Hashim also warned that any attempt to overthrown a democratically elected government through unconstitutional means, masquerading as a protest against poor governance, still constitutes a treasonable offense and should be avoided.

Hashim acknowledged that the right to protest is a fundamental aspect of citizens’ freedom of expression, as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution, and therefore, any individual or group of Nigerians has the constitutional right to express their grievances through peaceful protests.

He said these rights, however, must be expressed peacefully without infringing on the rights of others.

Some Nigerians had billed a nationwide protest for August 1–10, dubbed ’10 Days of Rage’, to protest the economic hardship. But stakeholders, including the presidency, federal and state governments, and traditional and religious leaders, have continued to appeal to citizens to shelve the protest.

Hashim, in a release by his media department, maintained that there “are legitimate grounds for the Nigerian people to protest the prevailing economic situation and a myriad of challenges not currently satisfactorily addressed.”

“Nigerians did protest in robust manners even under military rule.

“What the government needs to do is address the issues with utmost sincerity; it is time for honest introspection.

“However, any group of people allegedly plotting regime change under the cover of protest would be engaging in treason, and where credible evidence exists, would be answerable to the law.

“We are a democracy, one that some of us suffered direly to establish. Though our democracy may be slow to produce positive results for our people, we must resist the temptation and seduction of unconstitutional change, which, in our immediate past, produced horrible outcomes.”